


l'll be here

by marvelledtom



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, M/M, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Poor Peter Parker, Sad Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 05:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15965483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelledtom/pseuds/marvelledtom
Summary: Peter didn't get into MIT and was too scared to tell anyone. He was supposed to eventually, instead, it was 3 weeks into the first semester and instead of being in classes he was staying in a crappy motel and visiting May (and avoiding Tony) every weekend in a MIT hoodie Ned had brought him. It was going well he supposed, until he bumped into Tony after months of no contact over a petty little argument.





	l'll be here

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this is a bit all over the place, I haven't done any creative writing in a while so i just wrote this and decided to post it.

He knew he was supposed to tell May. He managed to get her to drop him off and leave, convincing her that helping him unpack was not worth the time. After she left he picked his stuff up and went to a crappy motel near the school, knowing he couldn't go back to the apartment.

 

How did he get here? He was sure he was going to get in, so was everyone else, he was certain he wouldn't have to use his fallback options. He got into his second and third choice, but his first, MIT, he didn't. He remembered the rejection too, May had been at work for the early morning shift and left a note on the table, saying that she would be back at 8 pm. He put on his robe and slippers and yawned the whole way to the mailbox. He grabbed the mail like he did every morning, grabbing some coffee and sitting down with the pile. He skimmed through the envelopes, To _May Parker_ , _May Parker_ , again, _May Parker_. Then, _Peter Parker_. He had already gotten the other two acceptance letters, the excitement built up to the last letter.

 

Envelope size didn't matter, so he wasn't too concerned when it was small, it was all online anyway, he remembered shouting oh my god around the apartment, getting so excited that he had to take a seat and grab whatever was left in the fridge, cold pizza. He grabbed a few slices and put it on a plate next to him while he tried to calm himself down, he didn't think he'd be rejected he hadn't prepared himself for failure. All he remembered was his legs shaking as he failed to open the envelope properly, a sign he didn't see. He pulled the piece of paper out of the envelope, a cheesy grin forming on his face. He contemplated waiting for May to come back but he was too excited, he could make a little celebratory feast for her after work. He opened the folds, his eyes going to the top of the big paragraphs.

_Dear Peter Parker,_

_Thank you for your application, however, we regret to inform you that you will not be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..._

 

He stopped reading after that. He dropped the letter, almost like he was in a movie. His shoulders tensed and his eyes watered. His lips were pressed tight, his throat closed up and his head was in his hands. He hadn't gotten in. He hadn't gotten into his dream school.

 

He didn't know what it was, he had done everything. His grades were perfect, he did all the extra credit he could, he had the internship. Then it hit him, the internship. The internship he quit and stormed out of after Tony confronted him about his behaviour, and of course he took is as any teenager would and got angry, told himself (and Tony) that he was right and that Tony had no right to tell him that what he did was wrong and left, all without his letter of recommendation.

 

Oh god. The letter. Peter had been getting a really short temper with all the stress of work and patrolling and with that temper went his chance at MIT. If he had that letter he would have gotten in, instead, he got into an argument and got into second-rate colleges. Well, second-rate to him. He hadn't even realised that he had been crying until his phone rang from the pocket of his robe. He sniffed, cleared his throat and picked up his phone, saw Ned’s caller ID and declined the call, not ready to talk to him. He didn’t know how he’d break the news to the bt then, a bad idea hit him (a very bad idea specifically). He wouldn’t tell her, not yet at least (which in hindsight was terrible but it was too late now).

 

So that was how he started the lie, he had a hoodie that Ned had brought him when he had gotten accepted and took a little field trip to MIT. He went on to his computer and busted out his photoshop skills and used Ned’s acceptance letter as a template. His forgery was successful (all he did was type stuff out but hey, it worked), now he had to tell May which was easy as she ‘knew’ he would get in. He was going to tell her, he knew he couldn’t keep the lie going but her face. As soon as he told her that he ‘got in’ she grabbed her purse and Peter and took him to a pricey desert place, no matter how much he wanted to, he kept saying no, not wanting to waste her money on a lie.

 

Now here he was in a crappy 40 dollar a night motel with no food and a singular pillowcase (with no pillow inside) and half of his bedroom from home. Ned freaked when he realised what Peter had been up to and tried to get him to tell May the truth, it didn’t work. Now Peer’s only plan was to visit Ned once he finished his intro classes on Monday then meet to eat pizza every now and then. Ned was busy that weekend with getting settled and unpacking his stuff, leaving Peter alone for the next two days.

 

After spending a night in the world’s crappiest, hardest and lumpiest bed, Peter woke up very, very early (he had hit the 5 am mark), and then decided to go back home, well not home exactly, back to New York. He grabbed a ticket for a coach to New York and spent the 4 hours wondering how he had gotten to where he was now. He didn’t know why he was going there, to be honest, but he knew no one would be there. Flash was at Princeton, MJ was at Yale (after a long time deciding between Princeton, Yale and Harvard), Liz was at Princeton with Flash, Ned was at MIT and the other decathlon members were all in different colleges all over the country, all except Peter who was wandering aimlessly around New York while Ned was getting his ID picture taken, a tour of MIT (even though he knew where everything was) and meeting his professors.

 

Maybe he should have considered going to his second or third choice. NYU wasn’t MIT but it was still _somewhere_ and right now he was nowhere. He could be in school now instead of being by himself and lying to May but it was too late now, no schools would accept him now. Maybe Tony had been right. Maybe Peter had been irresponsible, patrolling too much and being late to everything had become a normal occurrence but if he hadn’t been messing around at first they wouldn’t have argued and Peter wouldn’t have stormed out without his letter. All he needed was his reference letter about the internship and he probably would have gotten in, instead, his ego got in the way.

 

He spent so much time contemplating knocking onto Tony’s door and apologising but he couldn’t, Tony was probably busy anyway, with an Avengers issue, or a … billionaire issue. Seeing the apartment was hard because he had been part of the reason Tony had brought a place near Queens. He had visited Peter so often that they needed anywhere else to do their work except for the compound and May’s kitchen (May and Rhodey had been very vocal about the messes the geniuses left).

 

On instinct, Peter had found himself walking to the apartment. He turned on his heels and walked back the way he came, bumping into a not so friendly familiar face on his way down the street. He looked down and carried on walking, not having the guts to say anything. “Hey kid,” he ignored him and carried on walking, eyes on the ground. “Hey.” he felt a hand on his shoulder, inhaling as he turned around. “Hey” he mumbled, not making eye contact.

“So, how are you,” he said, putting his hand in his pockets.

“Good, good,” said Peter, rocking on his heels. An awkward silence.

“So, how is everything? You started school yet?”

“Good. school is… fine.”

“Thought you’d be more excited.”

“I guess”

“Where are you going to now?MIT?”

Peter nodded, staring at his feet. “Well, I gotta go, erm, bye Mr Stark,” he said, turning and speed walking. He heard footsteps behind him “Hey kid” said Tony, running behind him. “Look I get that we’re, not on good terms but at least say more than good,” he said, crossing his arms.

 

Peter nodded. “Yeah I know, I’m sorry, it’s just, been a bad few days,” he said, “been moving around a lot, haven’t really found a place.”

“Aren’t you at MIT now? Thought you and the chair guy were gonna live together in the dorms or get an apartment somewhere”

“Well, it didn’t exactly work out”

“What? Why? Do you need help?” he said, concerned.

Peter considered not telling him, it was his mistake but he needed to tell someone, Ned knew, and May definitely couldn’t know. “Well? What happened Pete?”

“Well, I erm,” he said, rubbing his brow “I kinda… didn’t get in” he muttered under his breath.

“Well, it would help if I could hear you”

“I… didn’t get in”

“What? Wha- how? You’re a shoe-in for MIT. How?”

“It’s fine really. I just needed a recommendation or a reference. I mean I got into NYU but it’s not the same.”

“I’m sorry, anything I can do to help? How did May react?”

“She doesn’t know”

“Come on, let’s go”

“Where?” said Peter, confused.

“The apartment. Pepper’s there, we can order some food and sort out your school situation ”

“Sure, sure yeah”

 

When they arrived at the apartment it hadn’t changed at all, except that there were fewer coffee mugs, screwdrivers and broken pieces of his armour. Pepper was there like Tony said and they caught up, exchanging stories and (Peter) spent a lot of time trying to calm Tony down after he freaked out about not giving Peter a reference. Then after a good amount of Chinese food Peter spent a lot of time calming Tony and Pepper down after they found out about the motel he had been staying in (mostly Pepper who had spent a long time ranting about how dirty those run-down motels were and how he would get sick from staying on the dirty beds).

 

Somehow while Tony and Pepper were sorting out a place for Peter at MIT that he kept refusing out of politeness (and kicking out Ned’s current roommate so that Peter could stay with him) Tony left Pepper to sort out the rest while he sat next to Peter. “I’m sorry about everything. I was just, worried and-”

“It’s fine Mr Stark, I was being stupid, it was my fault”

“Look, it was mine, and I’m sorry. If you need me, just give me call. Are-are we good?”

“Yeah, we are.” Smiled Peter, prodding his food. “So”

“Hm?”

“I’m guessing we have to tell May”

“Definitely,” said Pepper “and there’s no we, you have to tell her”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help” whispered Tony, winking.

 

Then came the cursed time, May was happy to see Peter, and Pepper, then she saw Tony and sighed, getting a nod of agreement from Pepper. Peter started to explain the bad bit to May (she was not happy about his staying in a crappy motel, shitty was the word she used but Peter didn’t feel like repeating that when she was angry) and then in between her shouts told her the good news. They talked about how they would decorate his room and all the times they’d visit each other, then midst the celebrations came both Pepper and May lecturing both the guys and boy was it a scary sight.

 

 


End file.
